Truck driver critically injured in Vt. crash

The tractor trailer that went off of the Winooski River Bridge of Interstate 89, near Exit 15, is submerged in the river below.

WINOOSKI, Vt. -

A commercial truck driver has been critically injured when his tractor-trailer plunged over a bridge during a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 89 in Winooski.

State police say the accident happened around 8:50 p.m. Monday after the driver of a Jeep Cherokee lost control in the passing lane, sideswiped a guardrail and then crossed into the center lane, where a pickup truck rear-ended it. A Ford Focus in the center lane was rear-ended by the commercial truck, which crashed through the guardrails along the Winooski River Bridge, falling about 50 feet.

The truck driver, 37-year-old Dany Gauthier of Sainte Ann de Sabrevois, Quebec, is being treated at a hospital. State police say he was hauling paper from Quebec to Massachusetts.

The other drivers and their passengers suffered minor injuries.

The Vermont State Police are advising motorists to seek alternate routes around I-89 southbound Exit 15 as VTrans officials are continuing their efforts to make repairs to the bridge.

Efforts are being made to establish a second lane of travel which will help alleviate further southbound traffic delays, but heavy traffic and time delays are expected over the next several hours.